This book considers the syntax of the left periphery of clauses in relation to the extra‐sentential context. The prevailing point of view, in the literature in this field is that the external context ...
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This book considers the syntax of the left periphery of clauses in relation to the extra‐sentential context. The prevailing point of view, in the literature in this field is that the external context does not intervene at all in the syntax of the sentence, and that the interaction between sentence and context takes place post‐syntactically. This monograph challenges this view and proposes that reference to indexicality is syntactically encoded in the left‐most position of the clause, where the speaker's temporal and spatial location is represented. To support this hypothesis, it analyses various kinds of temporal dependencies in embedded clauses, such as indicative versus subjunctive, and proposes a new analysis of the imperfect and the future‐in‐the‐past. The book also compares languages such as Italian and English with languages which have different properties of temporal interpretation, such as Chinese. Finally, analysis of the literary style known as Free Indirect Discourse also supports the hypothesis, showing that it may have a wide range of consequences.Less

About the Speaker : Towards a Syntax of Indexicality

Alessandra Giorgi

Published in print: 2009-12-17

This book considers the syntax of the left periphery of clauses in relation to the extra‐sentential context. The prevailing point of view, in the literature in this field is that the external context does not intervene at all in the syntax of the sentence, and that the interaction between sentence and context takes place post‐syntactically. This monograph challenges this view and proposes that reference to indexicality is syntactically encoded in the left‐most position of the clause, where the speaker's temporal and spatial location is represented. To support this hypothesis, it analyses various kinds of temporal dependencies in embedded clauses, such as indicative versus subjunctive, and proposes a new analysis of the imperfect and the future‐in‐the‐past. The book also compares languages such as Italian and English with languages which have different properties of temporal interpretation, such as Chinese. Finally, analysis of the literary style known as Free Indirect Discourse also supports the hypothesis, showing that it may have a wide range of consequences.

This book develops a new analysis of the interpretation of verb phrases and VP adjunction by arguing that the lexical subcategorization information of verbs is systematically underspecified and is ...
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This book develops a new analysis of the interpretation of verb phrases and VP adjunction by arguing that the lexical subcategorization information of verbs is systematically underspecified and is only resolved when verb phrases are built in context, with recourse to pragmatic knowledge. This idea is formally implemented in the framework Dynamic Syntax by introducing an underspecified semantic type into the logical system. This provides an account of how verb phrases are built on-line and how verbs can be used with a different array of complements on each occasion of use. Under this dynamic view, the interpretation of verbs is argued to be essentially pragmatic, making use of the notion of ad hoc concept formation developed in Relevance theory. The approach is illustrated in detail by a case study of Swahili applied verbs. The study brings together results from dynamic approaches to syntax and Relevance theoretic pragmatics, and charts the stretch of the syntax-pragmatic interface where lexical information from verbs and contextual concept formation meet.Less

At the Syntax-Pragmatics Interface : Verbal Underspecification and Concept Formation in Dynamic Syntax

Lutz Marten

Published in print: 2002-10-17

This book develops a new analysis of the interpretation of verb phrases and VP adjunction by arguing that the lexical subcategorization information of verbs is systematically underspecified and is only resolved when verb phrases are built in context, with recourse to pragmatic knowledge. This idea is formally implemented in the framework Dynamic Syntax by introducing an underspecified semantic type into the logical system. This provides an account of how verb phrases are built on-line and how verbs can be used with a different array of complements on each occasion of use. Under this dynamic view, the interpretation of verbs is argued to be essentially pragmatic, making use of the notion of ad hoc concept formation developed in Relevance theory. The approach is illustrated in detail by a case study of Swahili applied verbs. The study brings together results from dynamic approaches to syntax and Relevance theoretic pragmatics, and charts the stretch of the syntax-pragmatic interface where lexical information from verbs and contextual concept formation meet.

The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) revolutionized the study of language, signs, and discourse in the twentieth century. He successfully reconstructed the proto-Indo-European vowel ...
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The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) revolutionized the study of language, signs, and discourse in the twentieth century. He successfully reconstructed the proto-Indo-European vowel system, advanced a conception of language as a system of arbitrary signs made meaningful through kinetic interrelationships, and developed a theory of the anagram so profound it gave rise to poststructural literary criticism. The roots of these disparate, even contradictory achievements lie in the thought of Early German Romanticism, which Saussure consulted for its insight into the nature of meaning and discourse. Conducting an analysis of Saussure's intellectual heritage, the book links Sassurean notions of cognition, language, and history to early Romantic theories of cognition and the transmission of cultural memory. In particular, several fundamental categories of Saussure's philosophy of language, such as the differential nature of language, the mutability and immutability of semiotic values, and the duality of the signifier and the signified, are rooted in early Romantic theories of “progressive” cognition and child cognitive development. The book casts the seeming contradictions and paradoxes of Saussure's work as a genuine tension between the desire to bring linguistics and semiotics in line with modernist epistemology on the one hand, and Jena Romantics' awareness of language's dynamism and its transcendence of the boundaries of categorical reasoning on the other. Advancing a radical new understanding of Saussure, the book reveals aspects of the intellectual's work previously overlooked by both his followers and his postmodern critics.Less

Beyond Pure Reason : Ferdinand de Saussure's Philosophy of Language and Its Early Romantic Antecedents

Boris Gasparov

Published in print: 2012-09-18

The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) revolutionized the study of language, signs, and discourse in the twentieth century. He successfully reconstructed the proto-Indo-European vowel system, advanced a conception of language as a system of arbitrary signs made meaningful through kinetic interrelationships, and developed a theory of the anagram so profound it gave rise to poststructural literary criticism. The roots of these disparate, even contradictory achievements lie in the thought of Early German Romanticism, which Saussure consulted for its insight into the nature of meaning and discourse. Conducting an analysis of Saussure's intellectual heritage, the book links Sassurean notions of cognition, language, and history to early Romantic theories of cognition and the transmission of cultural memory. In particular, several fundamental categories of Saussure's philosophy of language, such as the differential nature of language, the mutability and immutability of semiotic values, and the duality of the signifier and the signified, are rooted in early Romantic theories of “progressive” cognition and child cognitive development. The book casts the seeming contradictions and paradoxes of Saussure's work as a genuine tension between the desire to bring linguistics and semiotics in line with modernist epistemology on the one hand, and Jena Romantics' awareness of language's dynamism and its transcendence of the boundaries of categorical reasoning on the other. Advancing a radical new understanding of Saussure, the book reveals aspects of the intellectual's work previously overlooked by both his followers and his postmodern critics.

This book looks at brevity as an important topic for interdisciplinary study. It studies the diversity of ways in which brevity is achieved in conversation and examines the psychological, ...
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This book looks at brevity as an important topic for interdisciplinary study. It studies the diversity of ways in which brevity is achieved in conversation and examines the psychological, philosophical, and linguistic problems associated with the subject. When people make a contribution to a conversation, they tend towards brevity: they use elliptical constructions, exploit salient features of the environment in which the conversation is situated, make gestures, take account of what has been said before, either in the present conversation or in previous ones, and tailor their words to what they know of the beliefs and the personalities of the others taking part. In doing all this they generally make no obvious or unusual mental effort, and interpretation and comprehension are not hindered. Some of the problems of explaining this phenomenon are philosophically complex, and invite new explorations in linguistics, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science. The book is the culmination of a multidisciplinary research project: it discusses psycholinguistic interpretations of the mechanisms at play in conversation, and takes full account of the latest developments in all the disciplines involved.Less

Brevity

Published in print: 2013-10-03

This book looks at brevity as an important topic for interdisciplinary study. It studies the diversity of ways in which brevity is achieved in conversation and examines the psychological, philosophical, and linguistic problems associated with the subject. When people make a contribution to a conversation, they tend towards brevity: they use elliptical constructions, exploit salient features of the environment in which the conversation is situated, make gestures, take account of what has been said before, either in the present conversation or in previous ones, and tailor their words to what they know of the beliefs and the personalities of the others taking part. In doing all this they generally make no obvious or unusual mental effort, and interpretation and comprehension are not hindered. Some of the problems of explaining this phenomenon are philosophically complex, and invite new explorations in linguistics, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science. The book is the culmination of a multidisciplinary research project: it discusses psycholinguistic interpretations of the mechanisms at play in conversation, and takes full account of the latest developments in all the disciplines involved.

Plains Cree, an Algonquian language of western Canada, has two entirely distinct verbal inflectional paradigms: independent and conjunct. This book provides the first systematic investigation ...
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Plains Cree, an Algonquian language of western Canada, has two entirely distinct verbal inflectional paradigms: independent and conjunct. This book provides the first systematic investigation comparing these two verb types. It argues that the independent order denotes an indexical clause type with familiar deictic properties, while the conjunct order is an anaphoric clause type whose reference is determined by rules of anaphoric dependence. On the syntactic side, indexical clauses are shown to be restricted to a subset of matrix environments, and to exclude proforms that have clause‐external antecedents or induce cross‐clausal dependencies. Anaphoric clauses have an elsewhere distribution: they occur in both matrix and dependent contexts, and freely host and participate in cross‐clausal dependencies. The semantic discussion focusses primarily on the context in which a proposition is evaluated: it shows that indexical clauses have absolute tense and a speaker origo, consistent with deixis on a speech act. Anaphoric clauses, by contrast, use anaphoric dependencies to establish the evaluation context. Along the way, Plains Cree data is compared to English's matrix/subordinate system, to Amele's clause‐chaining system, and to Romance subjunctive clauses. In addition, a first micro‐typology of pronominal marking and initial change in Algonquian languages is provided.Less

The Clause-Typing System of Plains Cree : Indexicality, Anaphoricity, and Contrast

Clare Cook

Published in print: 2014-02-06

Plains Cree, an Algonquian language of western Canada, has two entirely distinct verbal inflectional paradigms: independent and conjunct. This book provides the first systematic investigation comparing these two verb types. It argues that the independent order denotes an indexical clause type with familiar deictic properties, while the conjunct order is an anaphoric clause type whose reference is determined by rules of anaphoric dependence. On the syntactic side, indexical clauses are shown to be restricted to a subset of matrix environments, and to exclude proforms that have clause‐external antecedents or induce cross‐clausal dependencies. Anaphoric clauses have an elsewhere distribution: they occur in both matrix and dependent contexts, and freely host and participate in cross‐clausal dependencies. The semantic discussion focusses primarily on the context in which a proposition is evaluated: it shows that indexical clauses have absolute tense and a speaker origo, consistent with deixis on a speech act. Anaphoric clauses, by contrast, use anaphoric dependencies to establish the evaluation context. Along the way, Plains Cree data is compared to English's matrix/subordinate system, to Amele's clause‐chaining system, and to Romance subjunctive clauses. In addition, a first micro‐typology of pronominal marking and initial change in Algonquian languages is provided.

This book examines the issue of competing motivations in grammar and language use. The term “competing motivations” refers to the conflicting factors that shape the content and form of grammatical ...
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This book examines the issue of competing motivations in grammar and language use. The term “competing motivations” refers to the conflicting factors that shape the content and form of grammatical rules and which speakers and addressees need to contend with when expressing themselves, or when trying to comprehend messages. For example, there are on-going competitions between the speaker's interests and the addressee's needs, or between constraints imposed by grammar and those imposed by online processing. These competitions impact a wide variety of systems, including case marking, agreement, and word order, politeness forms, lexical choices, and the position of relative clauses. The twenty-one studies are mostly based on English data but evidence from many languages is also discussed. In addition to grammar and usage in adult language, many of the chapters analyze data from first- and second-language acquisition as well; others probe into the motivations that drive historical change.Less

Competing Motivations in Grammar and Usage

Published in print: 2014-10-30

This book examines the issue of competing motivations in grammar and language use. The term “competing motivations” refers to the conflicting factors that shape the content and form of grammatical rules and which speakers and addressees need to contend with when expressing themselves, or when trying to comprehend messages. For example, there are on-going competitions between the speaker's interests and the addressee's needs, or between constraints imposed by grammar and those imposed by online processing. These competitions impact a wide variety of systems, including case marking, agreement, and word order, politeness forms, lexical choices, and the position of relative clauses. The twenty-one studies are mostly based on English data but evidence from many languages is also discussed. In addition to grammar and usage in adult language, many of the chapters analyze data from first- and second-language acquisition as well; others probe into the motivations that drive historical change.

This book draws together nine original investigations by leading linguists and promising young scholars on the syntax of complementisers (eg that in She said that she would) and their phrases. The ...
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This book draws together nine original investigations by leading linguists and promising young scholars on the syntax of complementisers (eg that in She said that she would) and their phrases. The chapters are divided into two parts, each of which highlights aspects of the behaviour and function of complementisers. The first part looks at how and when subjects, or parts of subjects, can and cannot move outside their canonical position in a sentence. Each chapter examines and compares the relevance of a number of syntactic factors in languages such as English, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Brazilian Portuguese, and Bavarian. In the second part, the focus turns to the nature and function of complementisers themselves, with discussions drawing on evidence from Italian, Italian dialects, Hebrew, and Dutch.Less

The Complementizer Phase : Subjects and Operators

Published in print: 2010-08-05

This book draws together nine original investigations by leading linguists and promising young scholars on the syntax of complementisers (eg that in She said that she would) and their phrases. The chapters are divided into two parts, each of which highlights aspects of the behaviour and function of complementisers. The first part looks at how and when subjects, or parts of subjects, can and cannot move outside their canonical position in a sentence. Each chapter examines and compares the relevance of a number of syntactic factors in languages such as English, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Brazilian Portuguese, and Bavarian. In the second part, the focus turns to the nature and function of complementisers themselves, with discussions drawing on evidence from Italian, Italian dialects, Hebrew, and Dutch.

Understanding the properties of questions and their embedding predicates has been a central project in theoretical syntax and semantics over the last fifty years. This book examines the semantic ...
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Understanding the properties of questions and their embedding predicates has been a central project in theoretical syntax and semantics over the last fifty years. This book examines the semantic interpretation of various types of nominal complements in so-called concealed question (CQ) constructions, providing new results about the nature of CQs, their interaction with quantification, and the semantics of attitude ascriptions. Over the past forty years, several accounts have emerged (question-based accounts: Harris 2007, Aloni 2008, Roelofsen and Aloni 2008, Percus 2009; proposition-based accounts: Romero 2005, Nathan 2006; de-re analyses: Frana 2006, Schwager 2008; individual concept accounts: Heim 1979, Romero 2005, Frana 2010a, 2013), all of which successfully derive the intuitive meaning of sentences with simple definite CQs (e.g. John knows the price of milk). However, examination of these simple sentences does not discriminate one CQ-theory from another, nor does it tell us much about what ingredients are necessary for the proper treatment of CQs in natural language. For this reason, many authors have recently started investigating the interpretation of more complex CQ-constructions. This book can be located within this line of research. Its main result is to provide genuinely new analyses for a range of CQ data that seemed problematic for existing analyses, including (i) the presence (or absence) of so-called pair-list and set readings in sentences with quantified CQs and (ii) the interaction between this type of ambiguity with the ambiguity between so-called question and meta-question readings of sentences with nested CQs (as in Heim 1979?s famous sentence John knows the price that Fred knows).Less

Concealed Questions

Ilaria Frana

Published in print: 2017-03-09

Understanding the properties of questions and their embedding predicates has been a central project in theoretical syntax and semantics over the last fifty years. This book examines the semantic interpretation of various types of nominal complements in so-called concealed question (CQ) constructions, providing new results about the nature of CQs, their interaction with quantification, and the semantics of attitude ascriptions. Over the past forty years, several accounts have emerged (question-based accounts: Harris 2007, Aloni 2008, Roelofsen and Aloni 2008, Percus 2009; proposition-based accounts: Romero 2005, Nathan 2006; de-re analyses: Frana 2006, Schwager 2008; individual concept accounts: Heim 1979, Romero 2005, Frana 2010a, 2013), all of which successfully derive the intuitive meaning of sentences with simple definite CQs (e.g. John knows the price of milk). However, examination of these simple sentences does not discriminate one CQ-theory from another, nor does it tell us much about what ingredients are necessary for the proper treatment of CQs in natural language. For this reason, many authors have recently started investigating the interpretation of more complex CQ-constructions. This book can be located within this line of research. Its main result is to provide genuinely new analyses for a range of CQ data that seemed problematic for existing analyses, including (i) the presence (or absence) of so-called pair-list and set readings in sentences with quantified CQs and (ii) the interaction between this type of ambiguity with the ambiguity between so-called question and meta-question readings of sentences with nested CQs (as in Heim 1979?s famous sentence John knows the price that Fred knows).

How does a speaker decide what to say? This can be a complex problem even in relatively simple-looking domains. In the case of numerical expressions, there are often many choices that would be ...
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How does a speaker decide what to say? This can be a complex problem even in relatively simple-looking domains. In the case of numerical expressions, there are often many choices that would be semantically acceptable: if ‘more than 200’ is true, then so are ‘more than 199’, ‘more than 150’, ‘more than 100’, and so on. Intuitively, as speakers, we don’t choose among these options just arbitrarily; but nor do we consistently follow any simple heuristic. And as hearers, we’re not just interested in what the speaker literally said, but also any inferences we can draw about, for instance, the falsity or unavailability of other statements. This book presents a novel pragmatic account of the meaning and use of numerically-quantified expressions. In it, the author lays out a set of criteria that are argued individually to influence the speaker’s choice of expression. The process of choosing what to say is then treated as a problem of multiple constraint satisfaction. This approach enables multiple different considerations, drawn from principles of semantics, pragmatics, philosophy, psycholinguistics and the psychology of number, simultaneously to be integrated within a single coherent account. The constraint-based model is shown to offer novel predictions about usage, and interpretation, that are borne out experimentally and in corpus research. It also explains problematic data in numerical quantification that have previously been handled by more stipulative means. And it offers a potential line of attack for addressing the problem of the speaker’s choice in more general linguistic environments.Less

Constraints on Numerical Expressions

Chris Cummins

Published in print: 2015-01-29

How does a speaker decide what to say? This can be a complex problem even in relatively simple-looking domains. In the case of numerical expressions, there are often many choices that would be semantically acceptable: if ‘more than 200’ is true, then so are ‘more than 199’, ‘more than 150’, ‘more than 100’, and so on. Intuitively, as speakers, we don’t choose among these options just arbitrarily; but nor do we consistently follow any simple heuristic. And as hearers, we’re not just interested in what the speaker literally said, but also any inferences we can draw about, for instance, the falsity or unavailability of other statements. This book presents a novel pragmatic account of the meaning and use of numerically-quantified expressions. In it, the author lays out a set of criteria that are argued individually to influence the speaker’s choice of expression. The process of choosing what to say is then treated as a problem of multiple constraint satisfaction. This approach enables multiple different considerations, drawn from principles of semantics, pragmatics, philosophy, psycholinguistics and the psychology of number, simultaneously to be integrated within a single coherent account. The constraint-based model is shown to offer novel predictions about usage, and interpretation, that are borne out experimentally and in corpus research. It also explains problematic data in numerical quantification that have previously been handled by more stipulative means. And it offers a potential line of attack for addressing the problem of the speaker’s choice in more general linguistic environments.

The Construal of Spatial Meaning: Windows into Conceptual Space explores the construal and expression of various aspects of the SPACE domain. Within the broad framework of Cognitive ...
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The Construal of Spatial Meaning: Windows into Conceptual Space explores the construal and expression of various aspects of the SPACE domain. Within the broad framework of Cognitive Linguistics, the research reported probes the interaction between language and cognition. We take linguistics to encompass both verbal and non-verbal communication systems and include metaphorical as well as literal forms of expression. Although the papers focus on the relation between physical and mental space as expressed in human communication, they cover a wide variety of research topics and reflect the multidisciplinary character of the study of space. Through the structure of this book the editors wish to convey to the reader the metaphor that the different approaches in the analysis of SPACE offer windows through which researchers are able to catch glimpses of ‘inner space’. An eye-tracking experiment shows eye movement to reflect spatiality during visualizations of both pictures and spoken scene descriptions. A study of a child shows how the development of linguistic communicative ability may be seen as a transition from pointing in physical space to pointing in mental spaces. A study of drawings based on verbal stimuli suggests that people are engaging in an imaginative embodied simulation of metaphorical motion. In one gesture study on route direction with blocked visibility, participants tend to use the dominant hand for referential aspects and the weak hand for self-orientational functions. In another, through gestures and body postures, a girl with the Patau syndrome extracts and conveys intricate information in communication situations. In yet another gesture study, speakers express lateral (left/right) direction in co-speech gestures when using next to to complement the linguistic spatial unit with unlexicalized locative information. An analysis of the motion situation distinguishes between primary and secondary figure and ground, and subdivides Talmy’s notion of Manner into manner of static existence and dynamic activity and makes Talmy’s telic Path dependent on autonomous resultant state situations. One cross-linguistic study offers experimental support for basic-level verbs of locomotion without making recourse to the loose notion of Manner, while another, in which German and French children describe motion events, supports the view that general cognitive factors and language-specific properties determine children’s construction of the semantics of space when encoding Manner and Path. In a usage-based study of children’s acquisition of Dutch spatial adjectives it is suggested that children, who often use spatial adjectives to express contrast, store specific adjective–noun/object pairings from the input and start by reproducing them with the same communicative function as in the language they hear around them. A corpus-study of Danish directional adverbs shows how the forms can be described and explained as different ways of profiling a dynamic motion event in a basic Path event frame. A construction-grammar analysis of some complex predicate constructions reveals systematic differences between English and Spanish in the organization of the argument structure, and argues that fundamental typological distinctions should be based on the relative importance of constructional and lexical constraints. In a corpus-based study of road, path, way it is shown that both non-metaphorical and metaphorical instances of these terms are closely connected with people’s embodied experiences of travel through space along paths, roads, or ways. The last paper, investigating negation, opens up a window to the ‘inner space’ by suggesting that antonyms are organized into conceptual spaces. ‘Not’ is a degree modifier operating on the configurational construals in SPACE. In combination with BOUNDED antonyms it operates on the boundary and bisects a spatial structure, while with UNBOUNDED antonyms it modifies the UNBOUNDED SCALE structure and evokes a range on the scale in SPACE, like ‘fairly’.Less

The Construal of Spatial Meaning : Windows into Conceptual Space

Published in print: 2013-04-25

The Construal of Spatial Meaning: Windows into Conceptual Space explores the construal and expression of various aspects of the SPACE domain. Within the broad framework of Cognitive Linguistics, the research reported probes the interaction between language and cognition. We take linguistics to encompass both verbal and non-verbal communication systems and include metaphorical as well as literal forms of expression. Although the papers focus on the relation between physical and mental space as expressed in human communication, they cover a wide variety of research topics and reflect the multidisciplinary character of the study of space. Through the structure of this book the editors wish to convey to the reader the metaphor that the different approaches in the analysis of SPACE offer windows through which researchers are able to catch glimpses of ‘inner space’. An eye-tracking experiment shows eye movement to reflect spatiality during visualizations of both pictures and spoken scene descriptions. A study of a child shows how the development of linguistic communicative ability may be seen as a transition from pointing in physical space to pointing in mental spaces. A study of drawings based on verbal stimuli suggests that people are engaging in an imaginative embodied simulation of metaphorical motion. In one gesture study on route direction with blocked visibility, participants tend to use the dominant hand for referential aspects and the weak hand for self-orientational functions. In another, through gestures and body postures, a girl with the Patau syndrome extracts and conveys intricate information in communication situations. In yet another gesture study, speakers express lateral (left/right) direction in co-speech gestures when using next to to complement the linguistic spatial unit with unlexicalized locative information. An analysis of the motion situation distinguishes between primary and secondary figure and ground, and subdivides Talmy’s notion of Manner into manner of static existence and dynamic activity and makes Talmy’s telic Path dependent on autonomous resultant state situations. One cross-linguistic study offers experimental support for basic-level verbs of locomotion without making recourse to the loose notion of Manner, while another, in which German and French children describe motion events, supports the view that general cognitive factors and language-specific properties determine children’s construction of the semantics of space when encoding Manner and Path. In a usage-based study of children’s acquisition of Dutch spatial adjectives it is suggested that children, who often use spatial adjectives to express contrast, store specific adjective–noun/object pairings from the input and start by reproducing them with the same communicative function as in the language they hear around them. A corpus-study of Danish directional adverbs shows how the forms can be described and explained as different ways of profiling a dynamic motion event in a basic Path event frame. A construction-grammar analysis of some complex predicate constructions reveals systematic differences between English and Spanish in the organization of the argument structure, and argues that fundamental typological distinctions should be based on the relative importance of constructional and lexical constraints. In a corpus-based study of road, path, way it is shown that both non-metaphorical and metaphorical instances of these terms are closely connected with people’s embodied experiences of travel through space along paths, roads, or ways. The last paper, investigating negation, opens up a window to the ‘inner space’ by suggesting that antonyms are organized into conceptual spaces. ‘Not’ is a degree modifier operating on the configurational construals in SPACE. In combination with BOUNDED antonyms it operates on the boundary and bisects a spatial structure, while with UNBOUNDED antonyms it modifies the UNBOUNDED SCALE structure and evokes a range on the scale in SPACE, like ‘fairly’.